Systems and methods for the treatment of pain through neural fiber stimulation
First Claim
1. A method of reducing a perception of pain, the method comprising:
- electrically stimulating through an electrode inserted in-vivo a plurality of target afferent sensory nerve fibers in a random or pseudo-random manner to generate a stochastic response of action potentials in the plurality of target afferent sensory nerve fibers while avoiding generation of action potentials in small sensory nerve fibers and motor nerve fibers.
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for the treatment of pain through activation of select neural fibers. The neural fibers may comprise one or more afferent neural fibers and/or one or more efferent neural fibers. If afferent fibers are stimulated, alone or in combination with efferent fibers, a therapeutically effective amount of electrical stimulation is applied to activate afferent pathways in a manner approximating natural afferent activity. The afferent fibers may be associated with primary receptors of muscle spindles, golgi tendon organs, secondary receptors of muscle spindles, joint receptors, touch receptors, and other types of mechanoreceptors and/or proprioceptors. If efferent fibers are stimulated, alone or in combination with afferent fibers, a therapeutically effective amount of electrical stimulation is applied to activate intrafusal and/or extrafusal muscle fibers, which results in an indirect activation of afferent fibers associated therewith.
66 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of reducing a perception of pain, the method comprising:
electrically stimulating through an electrode inserted in-vivo a plurality of target afferent sensory nerve fibers in a random or pseudo-random manner to generate a stochastic response of action potentials in the plurality of target afferent sensory nerve fibers while avoiding generation of action potentials in small sensory nerve fibers and motor nerve fibers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method comprising the step of:
electrically stimulating through an electrode inserted in-vivo a large sensory target afferent nerve fiber in a random or pseudo-random manner to generate a stochastic response of action potentials in the large sensory target afferent nerve fiber while avoiding generation of action potentials in non-target small sensory nerve fibers to reduce a perception of pain. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of reducing a perception of pain comprising the steps of:
applying electrical stimulation to at least a portion of a nervous system through an electrode inserted in-vivo in a random or pseudo-random manner to generate a stochastic response of action potentials in a plurality of target afferent sensory nerve fibers while avoiding action potentials in non-target small sensory afferent nerve fibers causing a reduction of perception of pain. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
Specification